Favorite Sierra Products
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the best products local to Tahoe. Now, I'm going to expand my range a little further and talk about my favorite things from my favorite mountain range - the Sierra Nevada!
Klean Kanteen:
Klean Kanteen is based in Chico, California (home to another favorite - Sierra Nevada Brewing). I've mentioned my love for Klean Kanteen in other product round ups, but I just have to mention again how much I like them! I definitely think their insulated Kanteen are superior to their competitor Hydroflask. I am notoriously bad about forgetting to wash out my morning coffee, but the Klean Kanteen doesn't have ANY lingering coffee smell. Klean Kanteen partners with organizations to co-brand their merchandise for fundraisers, and my organization is currently selling Sierra Nevada Alliance Klean Kanteens if you want to buy one!Klean Kanteen manufactures their bottles in China, and has this to say about that
"Klean Kanteen has always shared many of the concerns you, our customers, have expressed about manufacturing the bottles in China. Before a single bottle was ever produced, Klean Kanteen set in place checks and balances to ensure that our bottles are produced safely, sustainably and that the people making Klean Kanteens are treated well and paid fairly. By manufacturing in China, Klean Kanteen can provide a handcrafted bottle of exceptional quality at a reasonable price."
Klean Kanteen bottles are made from stainless steel, and the bottles are unlined and don't contain any BPA. You can even get some of the Kanteens made entirely plastic free with stainless steel and bamboo lids.
Yuba Expeditions:
Not exactly a product, but more of a service - Yuba Expeditions in Downieville, California provides shuttle service, bike rentals and everything else you need to ride the classic Downieville Downhill mountain bike trail. I was able to ride the Downhill twice this summer, and both times we used the Yuba Expedition shuttle. Their service is great - on one trip, our group was too large to fit in on the existing shuttle routes, so they did a special shuttle trip at 7 am just for our group! It's totally affordable ($20 per person), and their profits support Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship, an awesome trail building organization that builds and maintains the great trails in the Sierra Buttes area.
When you finish the ride, hot and exhausted, Yuba Expeditions has cold, local beer waiting for you, AND it's next to a swimming hole made by the confluence of the Yuba and the Downie Rivers, just waiting for you to jump in. Yuba Expeditions also sells really great shirts/hats/bike gear etc.I wear my Yuba Expeditions hat all the time, and Greyson has this "Another Shitty Day in Downieville" tank top. (Not him in the picture)
Juniper Ridge:
Technically, Juniper Ridge is based in Berkeley, California, but many of their products are distilled from plants collected in the Sierra Nevada.
"All Juniper Ridge products are 100% Wildcrafted and produced using old perfume making techniques including distillation, tincturing, infusion and enfleurage. A hundred years ago, all perfumes were made this way. Today we’re the only ones who handle every step of the process ourselves, from beginning to end. These formulas vary from year to year and harvest to harvest, based on rainfall, temperature, exact harvesting location, and season. The exact formula depends on what we find in the wind, a conversation with the living, wild ecology...All of our plants are wildharvested with the utmost sensitivity and respect for the existing wildscape. We return to the same stands year after year to carefully monitor regrowth. We never use alien or invasive species and are actively involved in native plant restoration projects from San Diego to Seattle. 10% of all of our profits are annually donated to a portfolio of Western Wilderness Defense organizations. We revel in the intact forest habitats of the West, and tirelessly work to promote education as to how best to protect them."
The amount of Juniper Ridge I own is a little ridiculous, but I just love all of their stuff so much! I can't handle a lot of perfumed or scented products, but their stuff never bugs me. I would much rather smell like a cedar forest than a fake scent created in a lab. (A lot of the scented products on the market contain phthalates, which are endocrine disruptors and bad for the environment.) I first learned about this company from a friend at work when they donated several gift baskets worth of stuff to an auction. I won one of the gift baskets and have never looked back.
My current favorite products are the Steep Ravine Organic Soap, Douglas fir spring tips tea, Sierra Granite Trail Soap, and the Christmas Tree Cabin Spray. Oh, and also the Siskiyou backpacker cologne! I got it for Greyson, but he's not a cologne guy, and, hey, it's unisex!
Chico Bags
Many cities in California (including Truckee and South Lake Tahoe) have a plastic bag ban, but I was using re-usable grocery bags long before it was compulsory. In fact, my mom recently sent me a re-usable bag we made together for an elementary school project. It's got some sweet glitter paint designs.
At this point, I've accumulated a TON of reusable grocery bags, but by far my favorite is the ChicoBag Sling rePETe tote. The rePETe bags are made from recycled material, mostly 100% post-consumer bottles. The sling bags have a cross body strap (making them great for hauling beer and snacks to all day music festivals) and can hold up to 4o pounds. I was telling the checker at Safeway that, and she was curious so she weighed my bag - it easily carried 30+ pounds. I'm not sure how you'd get up to 40 without weights, but I trust them!
Living Wild by Alicia Funk and Karin Kaufman
I love this book by Alicia Funk and Karin Kaufman. Living Wild: Gardening, Cooking and Healing with Native Plants of California is so much more than a cookbook - it's a great reference for the native plants of California, with a special focus on the Sierra.
"An invitation to celebrate California's heritage and culture weaves through LIVING WILD, an essential guide to the uses of native plants. This expanded second edition offers a deep awareness of the landscape with advice on cultivating more than 100 native plant species and enjoying this natural abundance for sustainable wild food cuisine and herbal medicine remedies. LIVING WILD is the only sourcebook that provides a simple path to fundamentally shift the way we eat, garden and heal."